


A Hymn to the Goddess

by roxyryoko



Series: Drabbles in the Dark [10]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Gen, Pre-Timeskip | Academy Phase (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), choir practice, short axe babes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,304
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23124460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/roxyryoko/pseuds/roxyryoko
Summary: Annette lost her voice, and lamenting over it with a worried Caspar and a tardy Hilda has earned the three of them the spotlight by Manuela’s order. She normally loves choir class, but to be put on the spot to sing in her condition...she just knows she’s going to completely butcher the hymn.
Relationships: Annette Fantine Dominic & Caspar von Bergliez, Annette Fantine Dominic & Hilda Valentine Goneril, Caspar von Bergliez & Hilda Valentine Goneril
Series: Drabbles in the Dark [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1590193
Comments: 12
Kudos: 27
Collections: Those Who Drabble in the Dark





	A Hymn to the Goddess

**Author's Note:**

> It’s over a week late, but here’s a super, super loose interpretation of the prompt “Heaven and Hell.” I decided to take it more figurative.

Annette waved short yet vigorously as Hilda scurried across the rows of pews and slinked into the sanctuary to join her fellow students gathered behind the rows of music stands. A bright babel of chatter and vocal warm-ups punctured the air, cloaking Hilda’s quick plodding on the marble floors.

Unfortunately for her, Manuela had a six-sense when it came to the dance of bodies across a stage, and while the Cathedral was no Mittelfrank dais, she was completely in her element during choir practice.

As the girl crept into place beside Annette, the former opera singer called, “Hilda,” much too saccharinely to be sincere. Hilda’s victorious grin instantly sunk. “So kind of you to join us. Perhaps you would like to sing the solo?”

Hilda covered her mouth as she coughed violently. “Oh, no, no,” she wheezed. “I have a terrible, terrible cold. I pity anyone who would have to suffer through my singing.”

“Is that so?” Manuela responded with skepticism. “I’m sure we’ll all survive somehow.”

Hilda coughed more woefully, but Manuela did not offer sympathy. She crossed her arms and waited expectantly.

The young girl bit her lip and flipped frantically through the sheet music on the stand in front of her. “What are we even supposed to sing today?” she whispered to Annette out of the corner of her mouth, sounding surprisingly healthy.

Manuela sighed. “As Hilda…catches up, why don’t we all start from the beginning?”

She paused a moment before waving her baton. The students shuffled through their pages and burst into song. The angelic coloratura of sopranos and the velvety timbre of altos filled the Cathedral with a vibrant hum.

Annette leaned over and thumbed through the pages of Hilda’s book, expertly finding the correct place. “Seiros is my Shepherd,” she said, and much to her own surprise her voice came out hoarse, raw, and barely audible.

She drew her hand to her throat. It had felt a little sore this morning, but she didn’t think it was anything a cup of tea couldn’t fix.

Of course, she had gotten so lost in her text book she never did ask Mercedes for that cup.

“Woah, you sound awful, Annette,” chimed in Caspar from her right. “You feeling okay?”

Annette cleared her throat and tried again to speak, but she only strained a whisper. ”Oh…no! I must have caught the same cold… as Hilda!”

Caspar leaned closer in attempt to hear her.

“Nah,” Hilda laughed anxiously, and Annette found it a bit curious how Caspar raised a brow. “You couldn’t have caught this cold. I’m sure…there’s another explanation.”

“Then…then I…must have practiced singing…too much yesterday.”

Caspar whistled. “You must have been really belting it if you lost your voice.”

“Typical Annette,” sighed Hilda, rolling her eyes. “Working _way_ too hard and tuckering herself out. Really, you don’t need to practice hymns.”

Annette looked at her feet. She couldn’t possibly tell them it was not songs of worship she was practicing, but songs with much more _inventive_ lyrics. Unorthodox numbers about beasties and steaks and cakes.

She buried her face in her hands. “How can I sing like this? I’m going to ruin the whole song.”

Caspar shrugged. “Ah, don’t worry about it. No one’s gonna hear you.”

“Yeah, no one notices when I’m not singing,” agreed Hilda.

“Hilda. Annette. Caspar.” Manuela’s reprimand pierced through all the melodic voices, causing the three to jump and the choir to fall silent. “It seems you three are eager to take center stage. By all means, please indulge us.”

Panic bubbled up inside Annette. Frogs croaked more harmoniously than she was capable of right now. She loved singing, but she didn’t wish to subject the other students, the clergy and worshippers, _and_ the Goddess to her raspy screeching.

“We’re waiting,” prompted Manuela. “Start from, ‘Your divine blood’ please.”

Annette opened her mouth and clenched her hands into shaking fists. She didn’t have much choice. No way did she want to to be an uncooperative student. Oh Goddess, please forgive her for the butchery of this hymn.

“Your divine blood,” she warbled in a whisper.

Suddenly, Caspar’s voice boomed, startling her. Guttural and slightly grating, it completely drowned out her breathy, feeble squeaking. He was completely out of tune and failing in attempts to compensate the higher notes with volume. He normally sung loud but not _this_ loud. Annette wanted to laugh.

To her left, Hilda sighed and began to sing herself. It did not carry particularly strong, but the tone was sweet and silvery. Annette marveled how she could manage to sing so eloquently with such a terrible cold.

Manuela frowned and her brows drew straight, but Annette’s heart swelled. Her friends were covering for her.

“Caspar, you’re a bit…off-pitch,” commented the professor.

Caspar responded by singing even louder.

“Oh…my. That’s…higher. Try a little lower. Please. Let’s not break the Goddess’s ears.”

The cacophony of three unpolished voices continued to the chagrin of the rest of the class. Annette could imagine those behind her wrinkling their noses and grimacing, mirroring Manuela’s expression. Out of the corner of her eye, Annette could see a pilgrim backing further and further away from the altar. Normally, she’d have her reservations over causing so much trouble and failing so dramatically, but with two of her friends coming to her rescue like this such worries seemed silly.

The discordant chorus of out-of-sync and out-of-tune voices surely sounded more like the ominous caterwauling expected in the depth of the underworld than what was proper for the home of the Goddess. Yet, Annette couldn’t help a teeny tiny feeling that maybe the Goddess above was laughing and filled with the same appreciative warmth of camaraderie as she.

“It’s do-mi-mi-re.” Manuela demonstrated each note for emphasis, growing more exasperated. Finally, she waved a hand, beckoning for silence. “Let’s close the curtain on that performance, shall we? Ferdinand, Dorothea, the spotlight’s yours.”

The two began a rich ethereal duet and a relieving sigh sweep through the student body.

Manuela stepped back as if wounded. She clutched her temple and groaned, “If I wanted a headache so early in the morning, I would have drank more.”

Annette turned from Caspar to Hilda and pushed herself to express her gratitude. “You guys! Thank you so much. That must’ve been super embarrassing. And Hilda, with your cold—you didn’t have to.”

Caspar waved dismissively. “Nah, don’t worry about it. You looked so terrified, I had to do something.”

“Valiant Caspar always coming to a maiden’s aid,” teased Hilda, brushing her fingers through one of her pigtails. She tossed it back with a shrug. “It’s whatever, Annette. It seemed less trouble to just sing than have Manuela keep scolding me. Can you believe she did that in front of everyone, too? What a bully!”

Annette smiled brightly. “Well, you’re both lifesavers. I’ll make it up to you for sure. Oh, oh, I’ll bake you something. Oh, what about peach sweet buns? Or do you like spice cake?”

She bounced on her feet as her excitement grew with each new idea. “Or—“

“Hey, now. That sounds great and all, and I’d never turn down a meal, but you should rest up your voice!”

“Yeeesh! Yeah, take it easy.”

Annette clamped her hands over her mouth and nodded, causing Caspar to chuckle and Hilda to smirk endearingly.

“That doesn’t sound like singing in the front row,” Manuela scolded.

Annette jerked to attention and began to lip-sing. The words to the hymn didn’t matter anyway. Her heart felt warm and her mind was abuzz with thoughts of recipes.

“Oh!” she exclaimed in her hoarse whisper. “Crumbs and yums! That’s a good line!”

Before her two friends could cast inquisitive expressions, Annette clapped her hands over her mouth again, wide-eyed and embarrassed.


End file.
